Nadia Favre: Nairobi Radio’s Queen of Comedy
If you’re a fan of rock and roll, then you’ll probably recognise her voice from frequently causing you to spit out coffee onto your desk at work. She’s Nadia Favre, the morning host of XFM’s Mid-Morning Show Monday to Friday and the Hangover every Sunday. Favre has been causing inappropriate laughter for two and a half years now and doesn’t show any signs of dialing back the hilarity. So how does she keep the laughs coming for five hours a day? UP Magazine sat down with her to get some insight into what keeps the audience tuning into her show every day.
Where do you get these ideas every morning?
It’s literally things that I see every day. Nairobi is great for that, like the other day I was having kind of a moment of blah and saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said “I Heart Catholic Boys.” It’s things like that give me a bit of a kick for some new ideas.
Do any of your jokes fall flat?
I don’t know about fell flat, but sometimes the things I say that I assume are super stupid are the things that absolutely crack people up. Maybe the dumbest was thing I said (that I thought was the least amazing thing I’ve said in my life) was in reference to an event that featured bottomless coke and I said ‘and I don’t mean that it won’t be wearing pants!’ Two minutes later someone tweeted me back about how hard it made it laugh, but I think they should wait for the good jokes.
Does your role in radio have any importance to Nairobians?
The other day, my show was just going ok and this girl came in and she was all “I just wanted to say that I’m super awkward and I can relate to you!” A lot of people in Nairobi feel like they don’t have anyone to relate to and it is kind of nice that I can keep people company. I’m one for the under dogs.
Is there an aspect to radio that gets difficult?
What I love is being spectacularly below average and then one day doing something mediocre and having everyone love it. I’m really a perfectionist about certain things and sometimes it gets hard just to stay so up and try to be your funniest all the time. I love it though, my old co-host Fareed Khimani told me this, that if you get up in the morning and it still makes you nervous, that you still love it. I get nervous before the first link every morning so I know I still have a passion for it.
Are there voices within the entertainment community that try to make people fit within a certain mold?
I wouldn’t say in the entertainment community, I would say within society in general. I grew up in Mombasa and there was a lot of this putting people into boxes. There was a lot of that ‘doctor, lawyer, businessman’ thing within the media. Someone doing it for entertainment could just come across as weird.
Has there been any strangeness that’s happened to you during your time on radio?
Well there was something early on in my career; I had this dude call in saying he was a fan of the show. Then he started telling me how he dreams about me very often. I was wondering how? I didn’t have a picture up or anything. The next day he tweeted me a video of him singing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Your’s”. It was like a selfie thing and very intimate. It weirded me out because I have never spoken to this human being before.
If you want to spend your mornings laughing and rocking, be sure to tune in to 105.5 XFM. For more information about the station check out their Facebook page.
Lowry says:
I love Nadia! She is the best person that ever happened to my radio.Listening to her every other time gives me the re-assurance that I am not completely psychologically disturbed.She’s awesome!
Henry lenni says:
Nadia is specutacularly great as she’s weirdly hilarious.I love her she’s not limited.
Charles Karonji says:
I Love Nadia so very much that I can’t help stop listening to her show everyday. Her face; golden! Her voice; melodious! Her every thing is just spectacularly perfect!
GLoria says:
Nadia is the reason i wake up every morning. Her voice and words act as insipiration to my life. I totally relate
Winnie says:
Nadia Favre is super hilarious, so real, i’d like to get into her mind lol
Jon Don says:
Nadia….is the best presenter EVER!Keep doing what you do girl.
Dudley says:
Nadia makes the x breakfast really delicious, i mean, she’s just wonderful. Keep it up, lady ☺
Phyl says:
Nadia…Nadia…cray cray woman…best female presenter ever…sidebar total turd
Shaarawy edds says:
Well well well i must say u r a phenomenon presenter from u vast humour to your great expertise in in the way u handle midmornin show keep up the tempo
Martin mydax says:
Nadia ur the best presenter ever!!
juliana says:
Nadia is awesome.i think she is a genius.one of the unsung heroes in the kenyan media scene.she deserves much more than she gets.she is like the late wahome mutahi{rip,he was such a legendary humourist},who never got enough acknowledgement..
ALEX MORGAN says:
Nadia is my favourite radio presenter,,,,,,really cherish you buddy
ALEX KIMANI says:
hi Nadia,keep up buddy…love you coz yua my best radio presesenter av ever met,…say whaaaaaaat…yua such a heroine nadia…
stephen kingiri says:
wow Nadia she was the blessing we had on fm,as I uses to call her “bigmama”I’ll forever miss her in my frequency. too bad,she should consider to have her station or join one or else we are going to stage a demo on tl yo have her back.
Alan miles says:
Nadia is a really unique breed of humans I’ve ever heard of… I really miss her show so much.. Don’t think anyone will ever replace her